


Unexpected Company

by Secret_ninja1



Category: Joker Game (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 13:26:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10103987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secret_ninja1/pseuds/Secret_ninja1
Summary: Out of all the spies, Miyoshi is the most persistent. With the return of Amari and the mysterious appearance of Emma, Miyoshi knows Amari is hiding something.Little did he know that little Emma would worm her way into the hearts of the spies and soon become part of the family.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missgod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missgod/gifts).



> This is a late birthday fic for missgod! Hope you enjoy!

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You’re telling me the half-truth. No one just disappears on a mission and comes back with a toddler without a justifiable reason.”

Miyoshi was leaning over the table and into Amari’s personal space, the shorter man doing his best to intimidate the full story out of his friend. There were other methods of extracting the truth, such as the serum they kept stocked at the agency, but Miyoshi figured it wouldn’t be useful. Amari most likely already tucked his secret far away in the deep recesses of his mind.

He could, however, try and pull it out of him on his own. “I know how you are with women, Amari.” Miyoshi’s knowing smirk grew with his confident tease.

“You’re aware of how Kaminaga acts. Frankly, I’m surprised that you’re considering my habits worse than his.” Amari did not like the look Miyoshi was giving him, his back pressed up against the back of the chair as if to keep the other at bay. “It wouldn’t be possible for something like that to happen within a month _and_ for her to be as old as she is.”

“Unless you’ve been keeping her secret.”

“Miyoshi.” Amari sighed, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger. He had been teased by the spy since his return, gaining nothing but suggestive scenarios and theories over Emma’s appearance at D-Agency. Miyoshi wasn’t the only one, but he was the most persistent out of everyone.

Miyoshi stood up straight and hummed in response, as if his pestering attitude wasn’t even present seconds before. His answer was enough for Miyoshi to see that he wasn’t going to gain anything from him today, though he was not deterred by this setback. He would comply with Amari’s wishes for now, but he aimed to find the truth and he was going to find out one way or another.

* * *

 

“How long are you going to keep tabs on Amari like this?” Hatano and Miyoshi were both against the wall of the building, crouched behind thick bushes that disguised their presence well enough. Hatano’s voice was only a whisper despite his complaint, keeping himself hidden and undetected for both his and Miyoshi’s sake.

Miyoshi had been following Amari around since the man’s return from Hawaii, determined to discover any flaws that Amari had in his story involving his new daughter. If he addressed Emma any differently than his supposed relationship entailed, or if his paternal instincts were nothing but a fluke, Miyoshi would be the first to know.

Amari was currently in the back courtyard of the Cultural Society building with Emma in his lap and a needle in his hand, threading it through the torn part of her dress that she had accidentally ripped while she was playing.

They were talking, Emma giggling and Amari smiling as he worked and patched up the small hole in her outfit. A classic father-daughter bonding moment that Miyoshi scrunched his nose at. Disgustingly adorable.

After a few more minutes, Amari managed to completely sew the hole up like the accident never even happened, Emma jumping up and twirling to show that he had done the job perfectly. She looked up at him and beamed, her wide smile revealing a recently lost baby tooth. “Thank you, Papa!”

“You’re welcome, Emma.” Amari tucked the needle and what remained of the thread into his pocket. “Promise me you’ll be careful next time, okay?”

“I will!” She immediately went back to playing, running towards the large tree they had planted in the courtyard and began climbing it.

Amari stayed and confirmed for himself that she would keep her word and be more mindful of her clothes, watching her carefully climb the branches and avoid scrapping her dress up in the process. “You can come out now.”

Miyoshi barely contained his flinch at being discovered, remembering that even Amari was as keen as he was when it came to his surroundings. So instead he stood up and moved from his hiding spot, Hatano emerging with him. “How did you discover we were here?”

“I heard Hatano talking.”

Hatano shrugged, walking past both of them and into the building before closing the door behind him. He stayed with Miyoshi out of curiosity, but was no longer interested now that their position was found out.

“Is Emma’s mother usually the one to handle the needlework?”

“No.” Amari hadn’t even bothered to stray his eyes away from the subject of their conversation, watching her swing her legs from the edge of the branch and pluck some of the leaves.

“Was she an actress?” Miyoshi smirked, his eyes focused on Amari instead, trying to see any changes in his expression or breathing that would point to lying.

“No.”

“A waitress?”

“Not even close.”

Miyoshi’s smirk faltered for a moment, taking his answer into consideration. “Was she married?”

Amari replied with silence, his lips pursed.

Miyoshi gave a mocking gasp, feigning shock. In truth, he was surprised to see that Amari had affiliations with a married woman, as Amari didn’t seem like that sort of man, but that was all the more reason to tease him about it. “Did the husband find out? Is that why you have custody of Emma?”

“Papa!” Miyoshi’s interrogation was cut short by Emma’s shout, the small child finding her way down the tree as best she could without tearing her dress again. She landed on her feet and ran towards them, the girl pointing up at the branch she was sitting on earlier. “Papa, I saw a bird’s nest in the leaves!”

“Did you?” Amari was back to his doting self again, following the direction she was pointing towards and seeing a cluster of broken twigs that resembled a small nest. “Well, why don’t we come inside for today, then? That way the papa and mama bird can see their babies.”

Emma nodded, reaching up for Amari’s hand to hold.

Miyoshi accompanied them inside, walking behind them and watching Emma hum to herself as her small hand wrapped itself around Amari’s too large one.

Miyoshi had noticed that whenever they were together, there was some sort of contact between the two of them. They were never separated if they could help it, always holding hands or Emma riding on his shoulders when they went into town. He wasn’t sure if it was just something that they did to ensure that Emma wouldn’t get lost, or if it was just Amari’s usual way of treating her.

 “Uncle Miyoshi?”

Emma’s soft voice was hardly heard as she angled her head to look up at the spy. It was difficult for the young girl to focus on something for a long amount of time, so her humming was clearly not keeping her mind occupied enough. “Yes?”

She seemed to hesitate, her mouth barely opening before she paused and her sight shifted from Miyoshi to her shoes and back to Miyoshi again. Her hand tightened around Amari’s. “Papa says that you are really good with hair.”

Miyoshi gave Amari a look that was torn between skepticism and suspicion before he allowed Emma to continue.

“Can you braid mine?” Emma tacked on a, “please!” at the end when Amari nudged her arm, reminding her of her manners.

Miyoshi could already see that braiding her hair would be difficult because of its length, but she had just enough extra hair pulled back in the ribbon that could pull off smaller side braids or some variation of them. He would have to decide the style once he had a feel of what she wanted. “I can try.”

Emma smiled and turned her head back to look at Amari as if she wanted his approval. She had asked Amari to style her hair a few times in the past, when they were still a bit unfamiliar with each other, but she stopped once she realized that Papa wasn’t as good with hair as her Mama once was. Her simple pulled-back style was all he could manage to keep her bangs out of her face.

Miyoshi made the deal of meeting her up in their dorm after Emma was finished eating lunch, giving him enough time to find his hand mirror and a spare comb that was probably Amari’s. He took a seat on the edge of Amari’s bed too, knowing that Emma usually slept there and was most familiar with it.

Within minutes, Emma was rounding the corner with Amari in tow, the man adjusting the hat on his head with his free hand.

“Are you going somewhere?” Miyoshi watched the dress on Emma flutter as she ran towards him and jumped on the bed, seated next to him with her hands in her lap. Amari didn’t follow her and stayed by the doorway.

“I need to run some errands around town.”

Miyoshi almost forgot that it was Amari’s turn to buy the groceries this week.

“Emma,” Amari’s tone shifted as he called her, “remember to behave while I’m gone.”

“I will.” Emma gently kicked her legs and waved at her Papa as he left, Miyoshi hearing him walking down the stairs and towards the door.

Miyoshi decided that now was a good time to pull out the comb for Emma to see, signaling that it was time to start. “You said you wanted a braid?”

Emma nodded and reached to untie the thin ribbon in her hair, her red bangs slipping from the confines and draping over the side of her face. She held the ribbon in her hands, her thumb rubbing along the material.

Miyoshi took it as permission to touch her hair, beginning with a small clump to comb through and ensure that there were no knots that would hinder the style he was going to create. It also gave him an opportunity to test the volume and how thick it was. The color and texture was nothing like Amari’s, he noted as he gently combed her hair. There was enough to complete two side braids, however, which Miyoshi had discovered as he brushed the bangs from her face and pulled them back with the rest before tucking it behind her ear.

The angle he was sitting in was awkward and it strained his legs and waist, but he knew that Emma was not comfortable with him yet, or with the rest of D-Agency, to sit in anyone’s lap besides Amari’s. That would take some time, how long Miyoshi couldn’t say, but he tolerated the ache and went on with smoothing out the knots until it was time to braid her hair.

He figured that Amari would have at least knew this much about the girl’s hair, but Emma maintained the same style for weeks and her bow was never out of her hair unless it was time for bed. It was the same pink ribbon that pulled her bangs from her eyes no matter the color of her clothes.

Miyoshi wondered if it was the only one she had, as he didn’t see any other accessories in their shared bathroom. Perhaps he could go out later with Amari and pick one out for Emma.

“Uncle Miyoshi?”

Miyoshi just began separating her hair into parts so he could twist them together, the spy hoping that Emma wasn’t about to change her mind. “Yes?”

Emma sat there with her eyes trained at the wall, knowing better than to strain her head and mess Miyoshi up as he was working. “Are you really Papa’s brother?”

Miyoshi’s fingers stilled for only a moment before he continued, the base of the left side braid already completed. Emma wasn’t much for the curious type when it came to people, preferring to stick to those she knew rather than be around anyone considered a stranger. He figured it was probably on her mind, now that she was living with ten grown men around her as compared to before. Families these days didn’t have as many members living under one roof. “Would you be upset if I wasn’t?”

Emma was quiet for a few seconds, her tone neutral after she answered, “Not really,” and wrapped the ribbon around the tip of her finger as she waited. “You and Papa don’t look alike.”

 _I hope not,_ Miyoshi thought, working his way down the side of her hair. “Do you think you and Papa look alike?”

Emma seemed to be thinking. “Mama says we do.” Then she gently moved her head to the side, just enough to peek at what Miyoshi was doing. She could tell that he was about half-way through with the first braid, but not much else.

Miyoshi nodded in response to her, his eyes concentrated on his task, but he noticed what she was doing enough to adjust his hold on her hair and let it loosen so he wouldn’t be pulling on it when she turned.

Miyoshi hadn’t planned on collecting any information from Emma during their hair session, but it seemed that she was old enough to provide insight to any unclear questions he had regarding her presence at D-Agency. Judging from her answer, Amari must have been close to his lover, for Emma to have mentioned her fondness for him and their daughter. She wasn’t unwanted, as far as he could tell, so she was not cast aside by her mother as in illegitimate child.

Was it a financial problem? If so, how would her mother explain to her husband about suddenly giving away Emma? Perhaps Amari took her without consent? No. Amari wouldn’t do that, no matter the circumstances. Unless, of course, it was dire and there was no other choice. Still, few situations would require such actions and Amari wouldn’t be fool enough to act without thinking. Miyoshi was still putting the pieces together, but it was coming together, regardless.


End file.
